I'll Be
by Cassie Faith
Summary: One's an alcoholic English teacher with a 10-year-old. The other is an abused, pregnant teen. Can they save each other while learning to save themselves? Warnings: Alcoholism and abuse.
1. One

**AN: First time writing Fabrose, should be fun. I must thank my best friend for beta'ing. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing you can recognize.**

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Quinn Fabray was no one special. She was always seen as the pretty girl who didn't offer much else. She didn't believe in love and saw sex as a way to get what she wanted. Getting pregnant at 16 and being disowned by your parents does that to you. Her best friend's family took in the pregnant teen and supported her and the baby while she finished high school. Upon turning 18, she got her own apartment and started college. She slept with a married professor once to pass a class, not to mention her landlord when the rent was late due to being fired. She never could hold down a job, depending on welfare to feed her and her daughter Beth. That's when she turned to being an escort. She could make $1,000 in an hour and more if she provided a "Happy Ending" for the John. She was broken, to put it plainly.

Marley Rose was painfully blessed with beauty and talent that could make even God jealous. She was three when her father first bought her a keyboard. She'd attempt to play along to her mother's Carole King records on repeat until she could play every song by heart. That's when her parents realized she was a prodigy. What other preschool-aged child could teach themselves to play the piano and sing with perfect pitch? There were talent shows, National Anthem performances at sporting events, countless musical productions, school choir, music lessons, writing lessons, and anything her parents found to nurture their daughter's unmatched talent.

Graduating college didn't come easy for Quinn, but she did it. Being a high school English teacher was not her first choice, but her advisor knew of a school that would hire teachers right out of college and Quinn couldn't keep up being an escort forever. It was her first week at Franklin High when she found out she was pregnant. Being unmarried and carrying the baby of some crooked district attorney was sure to be cause for employment termination. "Are you sure?" the abortion counselor asked with sincere eyes. Quinn sighed as she watched a 5-year-old Beth stare out at the falling rain, "No, but I have no other choice."

She was 14 when her father died suddenly. It killed something inside her that day. She couldn't look at her keyboard without feeling her heart ache. Marley was 18 when they moved. Her mother got a new job working at her sister's flower shop; as for Marley, she would be starting her senior year at Franklin High.

She was 26 when the promotion to teach senior English was offered. After proving herself and cutting her teeth on the freshmen, the offer was welcomed greatly. Walking into class that first day, she had already drank her vodka-laced coffee; nothing could piss her off today. The students settled as Quinn took her seat and opened up the class roster. She ran through most of the list to find all names accounted for; she got to the R's and rambled off a few names, "Marley Rose?" No response. Quinn lowered her glasses and scanned the room, "Miss Rose?"

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**More to come. Stay tuned. **


	2. Two

**AN: Thanks to all of you that put this story on alert, it means a lot. I hope you're all enjoying this so far. **

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The alarm went off late. Marley cursed as she scrambled for her running clothes. Sprinting down the stairs, greeting her mom, and running out the door all within 60 seconds. The sun was just starting to rise as she wound the corner and the classical violins blasting through her ear buds pushed her shoes harder into the pavement. She'd been trying to outrun her pain for years, literally. She highly doubted this new school would help, but she couldn't give up trying. She got lost wandering the halls of Franklin High. The bell rang singing the start of English and she picked up the pace to reach room 408.

"Marley Rose?" she heard the teacher call as she approached the open door. "Miss Rose?" with a huff she scuffed into the room.

"Here!" Marley announced and the teacher looked over to her. Authoritative, yet curious, eyes scanning her slightly disheveled appearance.

The young blonde teacher gestured towards an empty seat, "Hello Miss Rose. Welcome to Franklin High."

"Thank you, Ms…?" Marley asked as she sat.

The young blonde connected eyes with Marley then. Blue and hazel, stare holding, "Miss Fabray."

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Quinn finished taking attendance and rolled back from her desk. Marley sat to Quinn's right by the window, refusing eye contact as Quinn reviewed the syllabus. The class seemed to be distracted by their cell phones, even after Quinn read the no phones in class section of the syllabus.

"Okay," Quinn stood after finishing the document in hand. "I've got bad news and good news," The class was still preoccupied, except for Marley who bounced her leg under the table.

Quinn huffed as she turned to face the class, "Bad news is anyone with their cell phone out is currently on the verge of failing my class." She spoke firmly and the whole class, as if by magic, focused all their attention on her.

"Thank you," Quinn smiled before turning to the white board. "Due to a computer error, some of you were placed in this class by mistake. And since we have no idea who, I need to give you a diagnostic writing skills prompt," she explained while trying to find a dry erase marker that worked.

"What does that mean? Like, where do those go who were misplaced?" Kitty Wilde raised her hand in question. She was cheerleading captain and had been kissing Quinn's ass since she first had her freshmen year.

"We have two senior level English classes here. Miss Lopez, Mr. Hubble, and I all teacher a Level I and a Level II class." She took a breath while looking over the suggested writing prompts given to her by Miss Lopez earlier. "What we do is go in and look at your previous grades along with the writing prompt you'll be doing today, and then we place you. The computer usually does that for us, but not this time." Quinn sighed as she wrote two prompts on the board.

**Confession** was written on the left side of the board. **Dream** was written on the right side.

Quinn turned to the class, "Okay, pick one and write about it. Tell me a confession, small or large, real or totally made up. Same goes for the other. I don't care. I just want you to write something. It needs to be at least one paragraph long and you have until the end of class." She looked up to the clock, "You have 30 minutes."

The class got to work and Quinn sat back down at her desk, "Oh! And, put your first and last name on the top left hand corner… I'll write that on the board." She stood and added her new instruction.

The time seemed to go by quickly and as the students filed out, they placed their papers on Quinn's desk. She smiled kindly at them and made small talk with a few she'd had in previous classes. Marley was the last one out; Quinn smiled as she took her paper.

"Since I'm a senior transfer, all my teachers need to sign this," Marley shrugged meekly as she handed Quinn a paper with the school emblem across the top.

"Where are you from?" Quinn asked as she searched for a pen.

Marley shifted timidly on her feet, "Up north…"

Quinn finally found her pen, "Canada?" she joked while signing her signature.

"No," Marley chuckled weakly. "Canton."

Quinn smiled at her seeing this odd emotion in her honest blue eyes, "You have a Senior Advisor yet?"

Marley shook her head, "What's that?"

"Can I see your schedule?" Quinn held her hand out and Marley fished the requested paper from her purse.

"Okay," Quinn mused while looking over Marley's schedule. "You have Miss Lopez for French and your elective Women's Studies. She's the head of the Senior Advisors program, just ask her and she'll be able to help. I would, but I'm not in charge of it."

Marley could've sworn she smelt alcohol on Miss Fabray's breath as she spoke. That's when she noticed the dark circles and blood shot eyes of her teacher, "Are you alright, Miss Fabray?"

Taken aback by the question, Quinn waved it off politely, "Oh, no! I'm fine. I have a ten year old at home, so rest is a luxury I cannot afford these days."

"Well, thank you. I'll speak with Miss Lopez next period. See you tomorrow," Marley smiled as she backed away from the desk.

Quinn nodded calmly, "Have a good day, Miss Rose."

Marley gave a polite wave before exiting the room even more sure that she had smelled booze on Quinn's breath.

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The rest of the school day went by smoothly. Marley had gotten a form from Miss Lopez to fill out for the Senior Advisors program and she found most of her classes enjoyable. Her mom was sitting on the couch when she got home that afternoon.

"Marley!" her mother called in _that_ voice.

Exhaling sharply, in tense anticipation of what was to come, she walked into the living room, "Yeah?"

Her mother stood and approached her, "I told you to come by the shop after school so your aunt could see you. Where were you?" Her eyes were icy and barren.

"I had to fill this form out for school," Marley crossed her arms over her midsection. "The teacher I needed to turn it into was in a meeting and by the time I left school, the shop was already closed."

"Well," her mother drawled out. "Go get dinner ready."

Marley was relieved. Her mother took the explanation well, which was odd but Marley didn't want to focus on that. She had just made it out of the living room when the impact hit followed by the sound of shattering glass ringing through her ears. She looked to see the glass from the coffee table vase littering the floor around her. The back of her head was warm and damp and she knew without evening checking that it was blood. She turned to face her mother, body cowering in fear.

"I'm going out. Leave a plate for me in the microwave." Her mother barked before exiting out the front door with a threatening slam. Marley jumped at the noise. Her frame began to shake with fear.

After finishing dinner, Marley took a bus down to the free clinic, hoodie up to hide her punishment. She gave a fake name and the nurse cleaned her wound, saying it could have been much worse if just a few centimeters deeper.

_It's always just centimeters short, as if she knows exactly how much force is needed… _

Once home, she took a shower to wash out the blood, hands shaking the entire time. Her hands then covered the small bump on her abdomen, "What are we gonna do, baby?"

_She is going to kill me. I just know it._

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Quinn found Beth in the midst of math homework when she arrived home. She relieved the babysitter and immediately made her way to the liquor cabinet. She had downed three fourths of a bottle of merlot while cooking dinner, needing to numb herself from the day.

"I have to do a presentation in music…" Beth spoke around a mouthful of noodles.

Quinn smiled, "Really? That sounds fun."

"Yeah! We get to pick our favorite genre and do it on that. I picked Broadway," Beth smiled widely. "I called Aunt Rachel to see if she'd help me. Her squealing about deafened me." Quinn chuckled at Beth's pained expression.

"That sounds like Aunt Rachel…" Quinn murmured before taking another gulp from her wine glass.

The rest of the night went normally. After dinner, the two watched some TV, Beth got ready for bed, and Quinn tucked her in. That's when she broke out the hard stuff. A bottle of whisky was her poison for the night. She passed out on the couch, as usual. Beth shuffled out around 1 AM to take the empty glass from her mother's hand, switch off the TV, and throw a blanket over the woman who gave her life.

"I'm sorry, mommy." She kisses Quinn's head before going back to bed, just like every night before.

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**Hope you liked it. **


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